QUEEN OF SCREAM RARING TO GO AGAIN!

Oooooooh holy Sharapova! How we've missed you on the tennis court. On the 26th of April the "Queen of Scream" return to the tennis court with her 15 months ban for doping coming to an end.

The Russian tennis pro played her first professional tournament in March 2002 at the age of 14-years. She defeated Brie Rippner at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California.

BLACK COFFEE AT IT AGAIN WITH DRAKE COLLABORATION

Picture: (@RealBlackCoffee) on Twitter

South African record producer and DJ, Black Coffee is in the spotlight again following the release of 'Get it together', a song where he is featured by Canadian artist, Drake.

The release of the song was announced by DJ Black Coffee on his twitter handle (@RealBlackCoffee) on 19 March with the caption "Literally in tear", and has been received with mixed reactions on Twitter.

Among the list of people that were first to congratulate DJ Black Coffee was, Hip-hop artist, Cassper Nyovest who expressed his delight for his fellow countryman.

Abuti Fill Up (CassperNyovest) said: You keep inspiring us!!! Congrats and keep flying the flag grootman @RealBlackCoffee.”

Despite positive reaction from those who are in the music industry with DJ Black Coffee, some of his fans weren’t pleased with the song.

Thato Mabasa (@T_Mabasa) said:"Is it me or does Get it together by Drake ft Black Coffee sound more like Black Coffee’s superman track."

Superman track was released in 2010 by DJ Black Coffee featuring Busisiwe "Bucie" Ngwiliso then. The track has been redone and renamed Get it together with Bucie vocals replaced by Jorja Smith.

While DJ Black Coffee saw this collaboration with Drake as a dream come true, one of his fans Queen Kubheka (@Mamigal745) believes that Drake is the one who should feel honoured to have worked with Black Coffee.

DJ Black Coffee has become a familiar figure on the international music scene. In 2016 the house music DJ was in featured ‘In Common' a song which was released by U.S.A’s Alicia Keys

RICHARDS BAY MUSICIAN, SIMMY SIMS WAITING FOR INDUSTRY BREAKTHROUGH

Simmy Sims recording a song with headphones in the ears and mic in front of him. (Picture: Facebook)

An image of Simphiwe Mthembu taken in one of his music video performances. (Picture: Facebook)


 

                                           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38lptgXpq_s

Despite his continued hustle without getting a contract, Richards Bay’s underground artist, Simphiwe Mthembu is confident that the delay in breaking the music industry will be worth the wait.

 

The 20-year-old, whose stage name is Simmy Sims has been an underground artist since the age of 13 and believes that perseverance and hustle would be key to him unlocking the doors in the industry.

 

“I have been in the game for a while now. I have achieved a lot of things in the past seven years, I dropped my first mixtape at the age of 16, and I have been fortunate to have ‘Hustle’ my song televised on 1KZNTV,” Mthembu said.

 

Mthembu, who is also a third year Fine Art student at Durban University of Technology (DUT) said that music is part-time due to a congested schooling schedule.

 

“Weekend for me are not holidays, but they give me time to hustle on my music,” Mthembu said.

 

Immediately after arriving in Durban for the first year of study at DUT, the former John Ross College old boy made several attempts to break into the music industry.

 

“Having to be ignored has become a normal thing for me in the industry. I sent my first mixtape ‘Living in my head’ to Isiphethu Records and it received praises from both Ngane Sikobi and Zakwe, but no actions of signing me or featuring me were made by the recording label,” Mthembu said.

 

‘Living in my head’ mixtape also featured Lady Smith Black Mambazo, and had 22-tracks in it.

 

Just like we all need role models, the music of J-Cole and Bryson Tillers played a crucial role in the music genre preferred by Simmy Sims.

 

In 2016, Simmy Sims remixed Aka’s song, Composure and kuze Kuse by Fifi Cooper featuring Emtee.

 

Mthembu’s YouTube channel current has close to 50 subscriptions, and his latest uploaded video titled Bryson Tillers classics has been gaining momentum on the internet.

 

Like most aspiring artists, Simmy Sims dream of the ‘award winning musician’ status behind his name.

 

Simmy Sims latest Mixtape titled ‘Before the Album’ was released on 24 February 2017 and has lived up to its expectations, selling over 60 copies in just two weeks of release.

 

 

REFLECTIVE PIECE: THE INCREASE IN THE EXCISE DUTY FOR TOBACCO AND ALCOHOL

 

This assessment taught me a lot of things about Mobile Journalism (MOJO). I got an opportunity to use a gadget to report news, and that alone made me realise that media is fast moving with trends. Over the past two years or so, I have been closely monitoring the use of MOJO by journalist in South Africa and in this assignment I tried to duplicate some aspect of their reporting using this powerful gadget called Cellphone.

When Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan delivered his budget speech on the 22nd of February, I knew that the aspect that I was going to choose for my assignment would be about the increase in sin taxes for consumers of Alcohol and Tobacco. High consumption of these products is a massive issue in South Africa, especially among youth.

This assessment answers questions such as ‘despite the yearly increase of alcohol and tobacco why do you persist in using these products.' This question might sound a little bit silly, but the reality is, South Africa is at a stage where more than 10 million people are unemployed, Inequality remains a critical issue with several employees earning below the proposed minimum wage of R3500. So the question here should be “Is it really worth it?”

This assessment was a challenge I was prepared to tackle. It sent me to a Tavern, to get the right piece of information to add to my MOJO. While doing this assessment I also realised that sometimes you need to get permission from the right stakeholders of the Tavern to take footage.

The 6%-10% increase in sin taxes of these products is expected to generate R9 Billion in an attempt to recover last year’s R30 Billion shortfall in expected tax receipts.

This assessment taught me that not everyone is always willing to talk to you. Those who are willing sometimes come with conditions like 'record me but off the record', and that alone makes it really difficult to put together the work. I also learnt that the ‘journalist status’ can chase people away when you are doing a story, and the best solution in those instances is to specify the purpose of the story.

This assessment also made me realise that people have different views and perceptions of alcohol and tobacco, and as a journalist, I should respect their views and use them wisely in my stories.

Most people believe that this increase is a continuation of what began in 2002. For me, this increase is a way by the government to reduce high consumption of alcohol and tobacco. My question here is ‘how is the government going to make money when people begin to ditch up alcohol and tobacco because of its high prices?’ We cannot deny that these products bring a massive injection in the country’s economy. I truly understand that this strategy has been effective since 2002, but what can happen if its backfires in the future.
 

https://youtu.be/9pqUCsyB9zw

BLITZBOKS CLINCH HSBC LAS VEGAS TITLE

Blitzboks with HSBC Sevens title

The Blitzboks clinched their fourth title in five tournaments of the HSBC World rugby series with a 19-12 victory over Fiji in the final played at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas.

Fiji scored first after four minutes of the final, but a converted try by Cecil Afrika had the Blitzboks back in the lead at the break.

Leading tackler in the series, Chris Dry, should his versatility with a try early in the second half to put South Africa 14-5 ahead, before Specman ran more than 50 meters to score the decisive try. Fiji did score again, but that was too late to stop the Blitzboks earning a fourth tournament this year.

Blitzboks currently lead the overall HSBC World rugby sevens rankings with 107 points, 24 points ahead of beaten finalists, Fiji, who has 83 point. England occupies the third place with 81 points.

Blitzboks coach, Neil Powell praised the team’s ability to come back when the chips were down.

“I am very pleased with the result, even though it was not the most clinical performance from our side, but we got the win. I would rather win ugly than to lose pretty,” Powell said after the match.

 The Blitzbokke travelled to North America without the services of the 2016 IRB player of the year, Seabelo Senatla, and kwagga Smith who are both involved in Super Rugby competition.

According to Powell, the absence of these two players showed the squad’s depth, and fighting spirit.

“I thought Siviwe Soyizwapi and Dylan Sage did very well in taking the roles of the absence stalwarts.  We are pretty blessed with our depth in the squad. It is good for the players also to realise that the structure is a sound one and as long as they look after it, the better the structure will look after them,” Powell explained.

The team’s next tour takes them to Vancouver sevens where the Blitzboks will face Chile, Kenya and England in Pool A.